He called me this past week, wanting me to come down and possibly buy his Farmall H because he was convinced by family that he shouldn't be climbing upon it in his condition. So, optimistically, I walked the 1/4 mile down the road to his house on Saturday...

My friend is waiting for me in his pickup. We drive around the house to the tractor and I told him I wanted to get his pic:

We inspect the tractor. He tells me all the things wrong with it and what procedures he has to go through to start it. Serial number (if I remember) is 231,516 which would place it in the 1946 range. Rear tires have weights, swinging drawbar, fancy chrome headlights and sheet metal that is mostly there and could be refurbished if I choose. Tires are worn, but not too much; one of the front tires was flat. Got on and drove it around his back yard (1 acre) a couple times. No smoke; engine sounds good. He told me that he has the side pulley and the service manual as well.

We confirm the price ($250) per his earlier proposal, then I fork over the cash and drive it home:

At it's new home:

None of the wheels are rusted out. The exhaust pipe at the manifold needs to be replaced (threads are stripped), there's a slow leak of gear oil...but it's my first H and I'm grateful to my friend who wanted me to have it. Haven't any plans to refurbish...yet.

Pretty decent looking old rig. No rust on rear wheels on a tractor that old means their probably is not any CaCl in the tires, which is good. Make sure you keep the clamps tight on the front rims are they will work around the rim and shear the valve stems off. On the one we had the loader on a pair of blocks had been added to each front rim to prevent that.

Yes, those are the brackets. They are like the square blocks for a Cub snow plow. They get left on the tractor and separated from the rest of the cultivator. Many of them have probably gone on tractor restorer's scrap piles.

Mr. Becker's got it pegged. It reads "UNITY". I've not investigated as to whether they are 6v or 12v right now, but they're not connected to the battery/electrical system. The current battery is a 12v.